#budgetmeals

I’m queer (pan, nonbinary, and my husband is trans) and disabled (depression, ADHD, gastroparesis, hypermobility, 27 food allergies). My husband and I live in a moderate to high cost of living area on one income.

We’re able to make that work because of all the skills I learned as a teen and young adult. I was in the christian church at the time, and had the benefit of tons of generational knowlege passed down to me by the older women I interacted with. Although I’m no longer christian (I’m a firm agnostic), and I definitely don’t subscribe to the idea that homemaking is a woman’s ideal job, I will forever be grateful to the women who taught me all these skills.

If you’re tired of the same old boring dinners, you need to try this. It’s thick, it’s glossy, it’s insanely creamy, and it costs next to nothing to make. Think of it like a warm hug in a bowl.

The Recipe:

🛒 What you need:

• 1 large sweet potato (cubed small)

• 200g red lentils (rinsed)

• 3 tbsp smooth peanut butter

• 1 tin (400ml) coconut milk

• 500ml vegetable stock

• 1 onion, 3 garlic cloves, 1 tbsp ginger

• 1 tbsp curry powder & 1/2 tsp turmeric

• Juice of 1/2 a lime

👩‍🍳 How to make it:

1. Sauté the onion, garlic, and ginger in a bit of oil on the hob for 3 mins.

2. Toss in your curry powder and turmeric, let them toast for 1 minute until fragrant.

3. Add the sweet potato and rinsed lentils, then pour in the coconut milk and stock.

4. Simmer with the lid on for 15-20 mins until everything is tender.

5. Stir in the peanut butter and watch it turn beautifully glossy! (Mash a few sweet potatoes to make it extra thick).

Grocery prices keep climbing.

Here's how I'm simplifying meal planning and keeping high-quality protein stocked at home.

🎥 Watch here:

Hello!  I’m not going to be putting out a low spoons menu every week unless it’s super popular (haha with my 87 followers), but I figured I’d do a post with some low cost, low spoons meal ideas.  This is meant to be low spoon, not no spoon.  I might do a post on basically-zero-spoon meals too.

Breakfast

Microwave scrambled eggs, especially if you have a decent dishwasher.  Microwave eggs tend to stick to the container even if you grease it.  You can add in whatever you want- frozen spinach, frozen chopped veggies, cheese, a bit of milk, bacon bits, nutritional yeast, hot sauce or salsa.  If your additions are frozen, microwave them till thawed first, then add the eggs to the same container and mix.  Microwave about one minute for each egg, then break up and stir in the cooked chunks with the uncooked egg.  Then microwave in 30 second increments until done.  For a lower spoons option, microwave for two minutes per egg.  They’ll be cooked really unevenly but you won’t have to stand up as much.

Instant oatmeal!  Again, additions are key.  Nuts, nut butter, canned, frozen or fresh fruit, brown sugar, maple syrup, butter, nutella, chocolate chips.  Thaw frozen fruit in the microwave in the same container you microwave the oatmeal in.

Quick oats can also be microwaved, and they’re significantly cheaper than the instant packets.  Use about the same amount of water and oats and microwave for two minutes.  These are very forgiving and turn out great even if your ratio is pretty far off.  Err on the side of a little more water and you can’t go wrong.

Smoothies are low spoons if you have a blender and you can rinse out the blending containers immediately.  If you’re hand washing and the container is going to sit for a while, either fill it with water or skip the smoothie.  Smoothie recipes are almost endless but my favorite simple one is this:  a handful of frozen fruit, and milk to fill up the rest of the volume that I want my smoothie to be.  That’s it.  If I have the spoons, I sometimes add a spoonful of sugar, a bit of vanilla, some yogurt, or a second kind of fruit.

Lunches and Dinners

Oven sandwiches.  I used to work at an Isaac’s restaurant in Pennsylvania, and their formula for sandwiches is something I still use: Toast your bread, spread dressing on it, put lunch meat and sliced or shredded cheese on that, melt till bubbly on broil, then add cold veggies.  Absolutely unbeatable.  A few of my favorites: flatbread with ranch, muenster, cheddar, spinach, alfalfa sprouts, and tomato; pretzel roll with mustard, ham, swiss, lettuce, and tomato; rye with thousand island dressing, corned beef, muenster, cole slaw, lettuce, tomato, and red onion.  Again, the combinations are endless.  Look up the Isaac’s Restaurant menu for more ideas.

Chicken veggie soup.  This one is slightly higher spoons, but it yields a lot.  While sitting, remove all the meat from a storebought rotisserie chicken.  Put all the bones, gristle, fat, etc. in a big pot and cover with water.  Boil 1 hour or more.  If you want, you can add spices like rosemary, thyme, and garlic, but you don’t have to.  Strain the broth into another pot and throw away the chicken carcass.  Add whatever veggies you have (except broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts) to the broth.  Those bags of frozen peas and carrots are easy and pretty cheap.  Cook till the veggies are done.  Add the chicken meat back in.  This freezes well, so you can make a big batch while you have the energy, eat it for dinner, and freeze the rest for another dinner or three.  You can also extend this meal with rice or pasta.

Green Bean Casserole.  Combine two cans of green beans, one can of cream of mushroom soup, and a handful of french fried onions in a microwave safe dish and microwave till hot and bubbly.  If you do this in the oven or toaster oven, top the dish with more french fried onions and maybe some cheese.

Any Meal Winners